"Look out, sir!" shouted McFrazer, at the same time firing an apparently ineffectual shot.
The warning was a timely one, for one of the lionesses, rendered desperate by the death of her mate, was bounding rapidly towards the still prostrate man.
Yet, in her fury, the lioness was not lacking in cunning. Keeping the abandoned motor-car between her and McFrazer, she rapidly covered the distance between her and the fire, which, owing to being scattered by the lion's leap, was dying down and emitting clouds of smoke.
Colonel Narfield had already realised his danger and that of the whole party. At all costs the fire had to be made an effectual barrier. Rapidly unscrewing the cap of the petrol tin that lay within his reach, he hurled the tin into the centre of the wide circle of sizzling embers.
The result exceeded all expectations. With a hollow report, the contents of the tin exploded. Flames twenty feet in height leapt into the air. The heat was so terrific that the four men had to shield their eyes. Rivulets of flaming petrol spread in all directions. It was a barrier through which nothing endowed with life could possibly pass and survive.
The fierce flames had effectually scared both lionesses. All danger in that direction was now passed, but another peril rose to take its place. The steadily spreading petrol threatened to trap the men in the hollow in the tremendous wall of rock.
All they could do was to back as far as possible and wait. There was no chance of skirting the fire. Already the flames were licking the cliff at two points fifty yards apart.
Rather grimly Colonel Narfield realised that he had overdone things. He never thought for one moment that a mere tin of petrol would create such an inferno. It looked like a case of out of the frying-pan into the fire with a vengeance.
But already the tide of flame was receding, at least on the side nearest the four men. The terrain sloped ever so slightly in their direction, and the volatile liquid failed to flow further.
Over the blackened ground minor explosions of petrol-laden air, like the expiring gasps of a stranded fish, showed that the force of the conflagration was spent; but on the other side and in the direction of the edge of the precipice, the petrol was flowing in a sheet of dull red fire.